By Dan Stewart / Jackson Citizen PatriotAmy Neville hugs Erika Bullock, 16, both of Jackson after a prayer service at Lumen Christi High School.

Clutching green and yellow Rosary beads Saturday afternoon inside the Lumen Christi High School chapel, girls basketball players and their families came together to pray for a teammate who was in critical condition after contracting meningitis.

Junior Kelcie Wilson, daughter of varsity Coach Mike Wilson, became ill Thursday in Fort Wayne, Ind., where she was playing in a youth basketball tournament.

She was airlifted to Foote Hospital, and then transported early Friday morning to Mott Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan.

"Kelcie's conditions have not improved enough to say she's out of the woods yet," her parents wrote Saturday evening on the team Web site. "She is back to running a fever, so they're using cooling blankets to bring it back down."

Kelcie Wilson

Lumen Christi Athletic Director Dan Crowley said Kelcie underwent a procedure Saturday morning to relieve pressure and fluid on her brain, and was in an induced coma.

Pat Neville, a former Lumen Christi coach who visited the family at the hospital Saturday, said doctors wanted to keep Kelcie stable until they figured out what type of meningitis she had contracted.

"It's very difficult to imagine what they're going through," Neville said of the Wilsons, with whom his family has vacationed over the years. "You just want to hug them and help them get through this."

Teammates exited the prayer service and huddled in a group hug outside the chapel doors. Some cried and held each other in the school hallway for nearly 20 minutes before heading to Mass at Queen of the Miraculous Medal Catholic Church.

"It's unbelievable," said junior Taylor Dillon, a teammate who attended elementary school with Kelcie. "It all happened so fast."

Taylor said Kelcie woke up with a headache and fever on Wednesday and sat out the first game. She played the second one and "seemed to be OK," saying things were just moving a little slower.

But on Thursday, Kelcie woke up with the same symptoms, except this time, they were much worse.

"She's a fighter," Taylor said. "She'll come back."

Several teammates describe Kelcie as an aggressive player on the court who has admirable style and grace off it.

"She'll show up for basketball and work her tail off and then she'll show up somewhere else and she'll look really pretty," freshman Kelsey Dillon said. "She's been an inspiration."

Crowley said Kelcie's teammate, Erika Bullock, led a prayer service at the hotel Friday night in Fort Wayne.

"The girls have done a nice job of holding together as a team," Crowley said.

Kelcie and her father share a special bond, teammate Karah Warriner said. He taught her how to be a fighter, so she should be able to fight through this, Karah said.

"She likes to help out and give advice, yet she holds her own on the court," Karah said. "Even though she's the coach's daughter, she doesn't use that as an advantage."

About meningitis
Meningitis is an infection of the fluid in the spinal cord and around the brain, which causes those areas to swell.

Viral meningitis is usually less severe while bacterial is generally more dangerous.

Severe headache, high fever and stiff neck are the most common symptoms of meningitis, and they tend to develop between several hours to two days. Most cases in young people occur between the ages of 15 and 24.

Some forms of bacterial meningitis are contagious. The bacteria are spread through the exchange of respiratory and throat secretions (coughing and kissing, for example). Fortunately, none of the bacteria that cause meningitis are as contagious as things like the common cold or the flu; they are not spread by casual contact or by simply breathing the air where a person with meningitis has been.